Apothecium

noun

1. A disk-shaped or cup-shaped ascocarp of some lichens and ascomycetous fungi.
2. In botany, the fruit of lichens, usually an open, rounded, shield- or dish-shaped body attached to the surface, as in gymnocarpous lichens, or globular and immersed in the substance of the thallus, as in the angiocarpous series of genera.
3. The ascigerous fructification of lichens, forming masses of various shapes.
4. The ascigerous fructification of lichens, forming masses of various shapes.
5. a cuplike ascocarp in many lichens and ascomycetous fungi